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Ready Player One Sequel Being Developed By Author

A Ready Player One sequel is now being written by Ernest Cline, ahead of the release of Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the first book. Following the release of the new trailer for Spielberg's Ready Player One movie, Cline confirmed that he is already working on a follow-up to his very popular 2011 novel.

Ready Player One takes place in the year 2045, in a world where people take refuge from the collapse of society around them by escaping into the virtual universe known as the OASIS. When the creator of OASIS, James Halliday (played by Mark Rylance in Spielberg's film adaptation) dies, he thus leaves his immense wealth hidden somewhere within the OASIS, free to the first person who is able to find it. This begins a contest within the OASIS that spreads over the entire world, as the young Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) emerges as an unlikely contender to win the much-coveted prize for himself.

Cline confirmed that he's working on a Ready Player One novel sequel during a live stream interview to promote the new trailer premiere for Spielberg's film version (which Cline co-wrote with Zak Penn). "It's true. I can’t talk about it too much, but there’s no better inspiration for a writer [than] to return to a world they’ve already worked on when they’re watching Steven Spielberg bring that world to life,"Cline said.

The original Ready Player One book is filled to the brim with pop culture references to famous movies, video games and television, pulling mostly from the 1980s. The film looks to be expanding its reach to the pop culture of the 19990s and 2000s as well, with such characters as The Iron Giant, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, Harley Quinn and Joker, and even Tracer from the Overwatch video game series among those now confirmed to appear in Spielberg's movie at some point.

While he didn't share any details for the forthcoming novel, Cline did talk about getting inspiration from Spielberg himself as he bounced ideas off him for the Ready Player One book sequel. With a direct influence like Spielberg's, there's no telling what sort of pop culture references we are in store for with the as-yet untitled followup to Cline's original story.